I. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to systems for enabling a vehicle having at least two in-line wheels to travel along a railroad track, and, more specifically, to a system for enabling a two-wheeled vehicle having a steerable wheel, such as a bicycle, to travel along a single rail of a railroad track.
II. Description of Prior Art
Due to the large expanse of unused or seldom used railroad tracks in this and other countries, many attempts have been made to provide systems for adapting a two-wheeled vehicle, such as a bicycle, for travel along railroad tracks. These attempts have been made both for recreation and transportation considerations. Typically, the adapters have comprised a bulky frame that is attached to a bicycle and includes one or more guide wheels, similar to railroad track wheels, that ride along the same rail as the bicycle and an additional guide wheel that rides along the opposing railroad track rail. However, the guide wheels merely rest upon the railroad track rail and are not attached to the rails in any manner. Thus, to prevent the rider from tipping the bicycle and frame assembly off the railroad track, either the portion of the frame along the opposing railroad track must be heavily weighted or the rider must lean in the direction of the opposing rail. Further, to stabilize the bicycle and prevent racking, thereby ensuring the bicycle wheels will remain on the railroad track, the adaptor frame is generally attached simultaneously to numerous locations along the bicycle such as to the front axle, rear axle and to other locations along the bicycle frame.
In addition to the foregoing, proposed adapters suffer from various other disadvantages as well. For example, many are large and heavy making them difficult to transport and manipulate. Also, the speed of a bicycle or other two-wheeled vehicle using such adapters may be limited because of the potential for the bicycle/adaptor assembly to leave the railroad track resulting in injury to the user. Further, by requiring the use of both rails, these adapters limit traffic along the railroad track to only one direction. Thus, there has been a significant need for a lightweight and easy to use adaptor that may be attached to a two-wheeled vehicle for enabling it to travel along a single rail of a railroad track.